The Tylenol.RTM. scare in the 1970's created a need for equipment which delivers tamper-resistant bands at fast, efficient, production-line speeds onto containers such as prescription bottles, food products, and other containers. Unsettled social conditions pose increased risks for manufacturers of consumer products because troubled individuals and dissatisfied employees can hold entire production lots hostage through tampering. To release any tampered products could create consumer panic. The result for any company releasing such a product could be catastrophic lawsuits or bankruptcies.
Shrink-banded, tamper-resistant packaging is a cost-effective way to reduce these risks, because a band is tightly encircled around the cap of a container. It would be impossible to tamper with such a container without breaking its seal.
One series of banding machines used for such purposes is sold by CMS Machine Systems under the designation TAMP-R-ALERT.RTM.. Such machines have a frame and a turret plate rotatably mounted in vertical orientation on the frame. The turret plate also defines an upper band entrance position for receiving cut film sleeve material having spaced indicia thereon in a flattened condition. The turret plate defines a lower banding position, where opened band sleeves are inserted onto vertically oriented containers conveyed along an article conveyor into the banding position.
A plurality of band holders are substantially, evenly spaced on the turret plate for receiving an unopened, flattened band at the band entrance position, opening the band into a circular sleeve, and holding and moving the band into the banding position and onto the top of a vertically oriented container advancing into the banding position. A feed roller and stepper motor system feeds film into a cutter, which cuts the film for delivery to the band holders which typically are vacuum actuated holding members. The cutter is driven directly from the turret plate drive so that the cutter operates in synchronism with the main drive of the machine.
Because aesthetics are becoming more important, even in tamper evident labeling, the label material typically now includes artistic indicia evenly spaced throughout. In a prior art machine, the cutter cuts at any point on the fed label at timed sequences based on turret plate rotation, so that there is often no control over the exact location of label cutting at higher operating speeds. In many tamper evident labels which are plain colored, exact registration of the label and cutting is not necessary.
More advanced and aesthetically designed packaging, however, mandates greater control over the location of label printing and cutting to ensure that the design is replicated on the label, and not cut therethrough. This is also necessary to ensure that any subsequent artistic indicia placed on the strip of label material are not cut. This can be difficult during high speed production runs when the film stretches during operation.
Thus, it is necessary to provide a registration system with a banding machine described above which allows accurate cutting of a label at a known location to ensure that the band is complete with all proper indicia located on the band.